Life Notes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women

by Patricia Bell-Scott (Editor)

Life Notes is the first collection devoted exclusively to writings from the journals, diaries, and personal notebooks of contemporary black women.
These intensely personal testimonies illuminate the complexities of black women's lives, offering unique reflections about self, family, intimacy, work, politics, life transitions, violation, and recovery.

Genres: Nonfiction, African American, Essays, Feminism, Memoir, Anthologies, Womens

Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

Reviews

[Mary Sisney · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most collections, some contributions to this still relevant book were more interesting and compelling than others. Generally, I preferred the journal entries; the essays were more likely to be dull. I found two journal responses written in 1979 interesting because of my personal experience. I was not aware that eleven black women were murdered in Boston during the early months of 1979. I found that information interesting because I moved to the Boston area (living in Cambridge and teaching at Tufts) on September 1, 1979. I don’t remember hearing or knowing about the murdered black women, either before or after I moved to Cambridge. I read the local papers fairly regularly and don’t remember reading about murdered black women during the ten months that I lived in that area, nor do I remember anyone talking about that bad news. I did hear about the record snow storm that happened either in late 1978 or early 1979. The other interesting journal responses were interesting because I knew the writer—bell hooks, aka Gloria Watkins. Bell wrote her responses during the months immediately after she and I (two young black women from Kentucky) left USC. She said her journals were always a work space, so her contributions were less personal and more scholarly than many written by other contributors. But I was struck that the style and voice did not remind me of Gloria Watkins circa 1979. I had read a draft of her first book back then and was not impressed with her writing style. When I read the published edition during the eighties, I was more impressed and felt that her writing improved with subsequent books. I know some of the writers revised their early work for publication, so maybe bell/Gloria did as well. But her entries remind me that all writing is a performance, even if the writer is just performing for herself. My favorite written performance in this collection was by Elaine Shelly, writing seemingly unrevised 1989 to 1991 journal entries about her battle with MS.

[Karah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not apt to describe this book as draining but the emotional depth can render it laborious. I usually finish books in less than a week. But this one, I purposefully didn't rush through it. I often learn myself through the offerings of others. That's what took so long. It is not wise to rush knowledge of self.

I encourage black women who seek to learn of themselves to read this book.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good essays, but what I need for my research...